Summer officially opens for business at the Dragonfly household in TWO days. Sure, I get next Monday off work but after that? After that, instead of venturing out into the world and conversing with real live adult people in the office twice a week, I will only do so once a month, until mid-August. One day per month. Leaving me roughly 70 days of All Spawnling – All The Time, Everywhere, At Top Volume (plus a few extra, not my own, who suddenly move in – I’ve heard them whispering plans of household domination already). All because I’ve failed as a mother and have yet to kick my yearly farming-out-of-the-spawn-for-the-summer plan into high gear. Indeed, I have yet to even create a plan. My punishment - I might… Might… get a couple of weeks alone.

One thing I do at the start of each summer (especially this one) – hoard my books into a stash resembling Hammie’s log full of winter acorns. (if you have not yet braved oppressive heat to sit in an air-conditioned theater to see Over The Hedge, I beg of you. Go. Go Now. Laugh like you’ve not laughed before!)

So, the reason I hoard a stash of books… When you have two spawnlings in-house, the necessity of escapism ratchets up into high, HIGH gear. It’s either that or my head explodes in a fit of spontaneous combustion brought on by bickering and the smells of sunscreen and boy sweat. And let me just say, folks… one of the boys has passed the first test of becoming a true teen. The B.O. is of the newly ripe variety, trying out its combination of odors in a way that makes me wonder if we have skunk genes somewhere down the line. Intervention is needed – the Extra Strength kind.

Thus, my summer reading list:

The Birth of Venus - Sarah DunantIn The Company of the Courtesan – Sarah DunantThe God File – Frank Turner HollonLittle Earthquakes – Jennifer WeinerThe Good, The Bad, and The Undead – Kim HarrisonI’d Tell You That I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You – Ally CarterThe Second Coming of Lucy Hatch – Marsha Moyer

And… *drum roll*

The ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson – which I WON today in one of her pretty contests. (my feet have yet to touch the ground)I can’t wait to get started. So, what are you reading this summer?